Alan Shatter (Dublin South, Fine Gael)

I am disappointed the Minister for Education and Science is not present for the debate. My concern relates to Holy Trinity national school in Leopardstown, which has 108 pupils. A further 70 have been enrolled for September 2009, which is the equivalent of two junior infant classes. The school has no permanent buildings and it operates out of five prefabs. It has no play or PE facilities and it has no facilities for a resource teacher. The cost of the prefabs to date, together with the basic works required to facilitate the operation of the school, is more than €1 million. The prefabs are rented at a cost of €20,000 per classroom per year. With each year that passes, €100,000 is spent on the rental of such buildings.

In 2006 the school board was promised a permanent school. The architectural plans were submitted in final form in May 2008. When I sought to ascertain by way of parliamentary question on 24 September 2008 whether the Minister would sanction the project moving forward, he replied, "In light of current competing demands on the capital budget of the Department, it is not possible to give an indicative timeframe for the progression of this project at this time."

The population serviced by the school has increased by 35% in four years and it is expected to reach 41,000 by 2016. There is an urgent need for the Minister to sanction the provision of permanent buildings for this school and there is no particular reason such sanction and construction cannot be fast-tracked. Schools confronted by similar population growth in north Dublin were fast-tracked, granted planning permission and construction was sanctioned. Will the Minister recognise the needs of this community and sanction the construction of these badly need buildings without further delay?

Only ten days ago, the Minister announced plans for 25 new schools building projects and he indicated he would not sanction further projects in the primary sector until next spring. This primary school needs to be constructed. There is no reason the families and children living in Leopardstown should be subject to the discrimination they are clearly suffering. No permanent classroom has been sanctioned in the primary sector in south Dublin for more than 15 years. I ask the Minister to give this project the priority to which it is entitled in order that the school board can move forward from the architectural planning stage to make a formal planning application to Dún Laoighaire-Rathdown County Council and then to proceed to tender.

I am asking that the funds for the construction of the school be made available and that it be fast-tracked for a particular reason, that the school will not be able to cope with pupil demand without either the construction of a permanent school building or additional prefabs being obtained. However, there is no space for further prefabs. If they are acquired, they will impinge on the site designated for the construction of the permanent school building, adding to the difficulties of the project going ahead. An alternative site for prefabs would need to be found while the construction took place.

The State is wasting money on rental when it could be invested in the construction of the badly needed permanent school building. It would benefit the children, the parents and the teachers and provide the children with the types of play area, physical education facility and resource teaching classroom that they need and that other schools have.

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